THE YANKEE TICKER
Boone raring t ogo just days after pacemaker surgery
“I CAN’T BELIEVE HOW GOOD I FEEL!” — AARON BOONE
TAMPA — After getting a pacemaker inserted in his chest, what’s a few swabs up the nose?
Aaron Boone and his pacemaker are ready to get back in the Yankees’ dugout this weekend, once he clears the COVID-19 intake testing following his hospital visit.
The Yankees manager said Friday he is already feeling the difference from the procedure, which addressed a low heart rate, and is itching to get back after being away from the team since Wednesday.
“I can’t believe how good I feel,” Boone said Friday morning in his first public comments since the surgery. “It makes me really glad that I got this done because I certainly, the last couple months, have not felt anywhere close to how I felt this morning, even [Thursday] morning getting out of the hospital. So excited about it, excited to get back, but really just wanted to extend my gratitude to everyone. I’ve heard from so many people the past couple days and that’s been touching and humbling. I’m just really appreciative of that.”
Boone drove to George M. Steinbrenner Field on Friday to get his COVID-19 test and then had to return home, where he planned to watch the Yankees host the Tigers on TV. He said he expected to be back with the team on Saturday or Sunday, though it remains to be seen whether he will immediately return to the dugout.
“Today’s hard,” Boone said on a Zoom call from home. “You have your morning coffee and this morning, the morning coffee really worked. I was ready to run through a wall. … In being at the field, I didn’t want to turn around and leave. Seeing the sunshine, seeing GMS, I wanted to walk in. But no, I need to wait another day.”
Boone said that how he has felt since the procedure made him realize just how poorly he was feeling before it. Ahead of spring training, he had been experiencing light-headedness, low energy and shortness of breath, leading him to undergo a variety of tests and wear a monitor that revealed a low heart rate. Boone, who turns 48 on Tuesday and had openheart surgery in 2009 for a congenital defect, said his heart rate got as low as the 30s and did not rise when he extended himself. Now, the pacemaker — which he will soon have an app on his phone to control it — will kick in when his heart rate goes below 50 or 60, he said. “A couple days in now, me and my buddy are doing quite well,” Boone said of his pacemaker.
Boone has stayed connected with the team during his time away — from FaceTiming general manager Brian Cashman shortly after the procedure to calling bench coach Carlos Mendoza that night to talk about the game he missed — but is ready to be back to see it for himself.
“I think I’ll be on the bench,” Boone said, “but just being there and having some of the conversations that I need to have will be important.”